1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for improving energy efficiency within computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for cooling integrated circuit (IC) chips using magnetohydrodynamics and recycled power.
2. Related Art
Rapid advances in computing technology presently make it possible to perform trillions of operations each second on data sets as large as a trillion bytes. These advances can be largely attributed to an exponential increase in the density and complexity of integrated circuits (ICs). Unfortunately, in conjunction with this increase in computational power, power consumption and heat dissipation of ICs has also increased dramatically.
Specifically, high-end computer servers can easily generate 20 kilowatts or more heat. Consequently, some power-demanding system components, such as a CPU or a graphics processing unit (GPU), can quickly reach unsafe operating temperatures.
To maintain safe operating temperatures and to prevent overheating for critical system components, servers typically utilize a number of cooling techniques. One commonly used cooling technique includes affixing heat sinks to heat-generating components to thermally conduct heat from the components and using powerful fans to increase air circulation around these components and to pump heat out of the server.
Meanwhile, companies that operate servers are experiencing soaring energy costs because of the ever-increasing power consumption of the servers. Unfortunately, conventional cooling techniques require additional electrical power and therefore increase power consumption problems.
One way to reduce both power consumption and heat generation is to use low-power components. However, this approach may significantly restrict computational power and other aspects of server performance.